Quote from: DJChameleon on Sep 21, 2024, 05:37 AMI'm watching How to Die Alone and Agatha All Along.

How to Die Alone is a great comedy about this lady working out of an airport terminal. JFK in NY.

How do you like Agatha All Along?

We're watching The Penguin. It is really good. What's more, Colin Farrell is phenomenal as the titular character. In the past, he's played a lot of bad, schlocky roles. Killing of a Sacred Deer annoys me so much. But he's absolutely brilliant in this. It's weird.

I've often thought why would they spend so much effort transforming someone into something completely different? There's probably lots of gangster looking actors with pear shaped bodies out there. Why this supposedly handsome Irish man of all people. But it was a brilliant decision and while I didn't have much fondness for Farrell in the past, I basically have changed my opinion of him altogether.

Happiness is a warm manatee

Quote from: Guybrush on Oct 18, 2024, 07:37 AMHow do you like Agatha All Along?

We're watching The Penguin. It is really good. What's more, Colin Farrell is phenomenal as the titular character. In the past, he's played a lot of bad, schlocky roles. Killing of a Sacred Deer annoys me so much. But he's absolutely brilliant in this. It's weird.

I've often thought why would they spend so much effort transforming someone into something completely different? There's probably lots of gangster looking actors with pear shaped bodies out there. Why this supposedly handsome Irish man of all people. But it was a brilliant decision and while I didn't have much fondness for Farrell in the past, I basically have changed my opinion of him altogether.

I keep trying to start The Penguin but when I do I'm too tired and know I will fall asleep on it so I switch to court tv or something else I don't mind falling asleep on. I'm gonna watch it one day maybe this weekend and plow through the four episodes that are up.

Agatha all along is good. I thought they would go the crime drama route like how Wandavision went tv sitcoms but it ended up only being like that for one episode sadly. The most recent episode was the best imo. They finally revealed something that they were holding onto since the beginning of the series. I really like the little homage to horror movies/witch tropes that they play off of.

I was this cool the whole time.

I started watching this show Tell Me Lies. It's a college teen relationship drama show. The main dude reminds me of a character from Gossip Girl. The level of narcissistic tendencies that he has annoys me but I'm suck in and still watch. I finished up season 1 and have season 2 waiting for me. Season 2 finale just released recently.

I was this cool the whole time.

Quote from: Guybrush on Oct 18, 2024, 07:37 AMHow do you like Agatha All Along?

We're watching The Penguin. It is really good. What's more, Colin Farrell is phenomenal as the titular character. In the past, he's played a lot of bad, schlocky roles. Killing of a Sacred Deer annoys me so much. But he's absolutely brilliant in this. It's weird.

I've often thought why would they spend so much effort transforming someone into something completely different? There's probably lots of gangster looking actors with pear shaped bodies out there. Why this supposedly handsome Irish man of all people. But it was a brilliant decision and while I didn't have much fondness for Farrell in the past, I basically have changed my opinion of him altogether.
You seriously have to ask? Look around you!  :laughing:


Just watched this. 2-part expose of what happened when the Nazis occupied the Channel Islands. Absolutely harrowing, and the apparent reason none of the Nazis involved - with over 1,000 deaths confirmed - faced any sort of prosecution and died in peacetime? The British were too "embarrassed" that Hitler was able to take British territory and kill with impunity.

Wait, what?

Also, in the programme it says that those who died on the CI were "the only British killed by the Nazis on British soil". I think those who died in the Blitz might have something to say about that! Worth watching though.



And now, another update:

Recent shows watched or watching:

Poldark Season 5: Already mentioned, still watching, still great.

The Brothers: Still watching this. Oh, the fashion and the music of the 1970s!  :laughing: UPDATE: Have recently found out that the channel showing it also shows it the previous day, and it's not the same episode, so I'm not sure if I've been missing episodes. The continuity has seemed okay though. Well, at least it means I get two episodes a week instead of one. (This turned out to be, for some reason, the same channel screening from episode 1, so no, not an extra episode per week as I had already seen all these).

The Cleaning Lady season 3: Can't believe how great this consistently is. Looking forward to season four now.


Belgravia: The Next Chapter: No idea, but I think a Downtown Abbey/Bridgerton thing? Just started. UPDATE: Missed recording about three episodes so putting it to one side for now. Update to update: dropped this altogether. Not because it was bad, but because of the missed episodes and a need to clear out space.

Dead and Buried: Woman can't forgive the man who killed her brother, who is now out of prison, and intends to take an eye for an eye. UPDATE: Did not like this at all. Yer wan was such a pain that I ended up rooting for the murderer! Terrible, stupid ending and a very poor message put across, that doing your time is not enough: death should answer for death. Terrible.

Billy the Kid: Loved season one, this should be just as good if not better. As someone once said, I love this sort of shit. UPDATE: Season 2 was just as good, if not better. Looking forward to season 3 now.

Nightsleeper: Terrorists hack an overnight train, with hilarious, I mean deadly results. UPDATE: Brilliant; lots of twists and turns, and you'll never guess the ending. Superb.

The Penguin: If you're one of those saying I can't watch this as I don't like those superhero things, take heart. This is more a sort of pastiche of The Godfather Part II and The Sopranos. Not a superhero in sight. Oh, the Riddler is mentioned, but never seen, once, at the very beginning. Other than that you can easily watch this as a non-superhero show. And it's highly recommended, if only to see Colin Farrell's amazing portrayal of one of Batman's arch-enemies.

Sambre: Anatomy of a Crime: Ah, me and my foreign dramas. This one's from France, and seems to be about a certain stretch of road where a serial killer prowls and abducts women. UPDATE: This was absolutely superb, a real indictment both of police ineptitude and overblown bureaucracy, and the misogynistic attitude of cops towards women (and I don't even mean just male cops).

The Tower: Gritty crime drama, third season, enjoyed both the other two. UPDATE: Final season, rounds it off perfectly.


Desperate Measures: A worker in a bank must help drug dealers in order to save her son from prison. Or something. UPDATE: I got it wrong, sort of. She organises the heist in order to pay off a debt, but it's excellent anyway.

Finders Keepers: Detectorists find treasure and have to decide whether to keep it or give it up to the govt/museums. UPDATE: Both James Buckley and Neil Morrisey shine in this, and again, totally unexpected ending.

Hostage: Another from Walter Presents. A plane is hijacked remotely. The things they can do these days. I hear you can even get the Internet on computers now! UPDATE: This was truly excellent, definitely worth watching.

The Vow: Harrowing but absorbing documentary about NXIVM, the cult that hit the news when it became known female members were being asked to brand themselves with the leader's initials. Ouch! Two seasons, watched them both, well worth seeing. If you can handle the sizzling of roasting human flesh. Urgh!

Douglas is Cancelled: Witty and on-point comedy drama about a newscaster who says the wrong thing and brings the whole weight of the self-appointed guardians of social media down upon him. Hugh Bonneville and Karen Gillan star.

Van der Valk: Season 2 of the, in my opinion, vastly superior update of the old detective show set in Holland. Marc Warren is always great in anything he's in.

Lucan: Interesting documentary where the son of the maid Lord Lucan killed goes on a quest to try to find the killer, believing him to be still alive.

The Ark: Season 2 of one of the best and most thoughtful science fiction series I've seen in years. How reviewers and critics can call its writing "blase" is beyond me. Looking forward to a hopeful season 3, though nothing has been confirmed.

The Body in the Lake: Thought-provoking drama that examines both the responsibility of teachers and the tendency of people to jump to obvious conclusions, thereby perhaps missing the darker, deeper meaning behind a murder.


Waiting to be watched:

Big Little Lies: Suburban drama comedy? I'll give it a go. Seven episodes now.

Bergen: Power and Glory: Season four I think of the Norwegian political thriller.

Interview with the Vampire: Well duh! As if I would miss this. All episodes shown, but they've sort of mixed up season two with season one, so a little untangling and some possible downloading to be done before I can watch this.

The Ex-Wife: Going to take a mad stab in the dark and assume this is about an ex who wants to cause trouble with the new wife?

The Boy That Never Was: Hmm. Pedant mode: Surely that should be The Boy WHO Never Was? People aren't things. Anyway, couple think their son is dead but then seem to see him walking along the street. Didn't I watch something similar? I'm sure that sounds familiar...

Apples Never Fall: I think this is about the disappearance of a child?

Cuckoo: Another series about a woman trying to make life difficult for a family. No cuckoos were harmed in the filming of this series.

Justice: Those Who Kill  I'm thrilled: I thought there were only two seasons of this fine Scandinavian murder anthology series, but here we are with a new one!

Day of the Jackal: Said to be Eddie Redmayne's finest performance, just waiting till I have all the episodes before I watch it. Yes it's a reimagining of the original Frederick Forsyth story.

Last King of the Cross: Season 2 of the fine Australian crime drama. Based on true events.

Cra: No, not a misspelling. Second ever Irish-language drama I've watched, just begun. A murder mystery, as you might expect.

Until I Kill You: A woman discovers her husband murdered his previous wife, and wonders is she next?

Coma: From what I can gather, a man tackles thugs stealing his car and puts one in a coma. Things kind of spiral after that.

Brassic 6: If you've been watching and enjoying this show, you don't need me to tell you to catch this. And if you haven't, why the fuck not?

Domino Day: Something about witches, I think. I'm a bit gunshy after suffering through a few episodes of A Discovery of Witches, which for me was a discovery of some very poor writing indeed.

Maxine: Drama based on the killings of Holly Wells and Jessica Cahpman in Soham, Manchester in 2002.







@Trollheart we're currently watching Say Nothing which is about some IRA members. We think it's very good and people seem to like it in general.

I'd be curious to hear what an Irish person would think of it.

Happiness is a warm manatee

I started Say Nothing as well. It's interesting so far

I was this cool the whole time.

As the resident Irishman (I qualify that, as I know Buck is Irish, but living in the US) I should really take a look at that. However I'm halfway through Day of the Jackal at the moment. Update on my shows watched following soon.


#159 Jan 04, 2025, 11:33 PM Last Edit: Jan 05, 2025, 12:20 AM by innerspaceboy
Everyone knows I'm a tremendous fan of Jim Henson's work. I maintain a considerable digital archive of nearly every surviving work he produced. (I've a few holes to fill with Sam and Friends and Wilkin's Coffee adverts, but I do have his 1969 existential experimental college art film, The Cube.)

One of the more difficult sub-libraries to compile is that of Sesame Street. It has run for 55 seasons, undergone several format changes, and is in peril at present because HBO elected to not renew their streaming contract. Many fans hope the program returns to PBS where lower-income families are better able to view the show. (The Max seasons did later become available on PBS about a year after their initial dates.)

I have several specials and box sets of the series, including the following:

- Sesame Street Presents - Songs From the Street - 35 Years of Music [3CD] (2003)

- Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days [2DVD] (2018)

- Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration (2019)

- Street Gang - How We Got to Sesame Street (2021 film)

- Sesame Street - 50 Years Of Sunny Days (2021 film)

The Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days [2DVD] (2018) is my latest acquisition, and I've just finished watching all nine half-hour installments. These progress chronologically with season range announcements between blocks of shorts.

My only contention is that, for every Tony Bennett - "Slimey to the Moon" song featured there is a Stevie Wonder - "Superstition" missing from the set. I suppose that's understandable for two key reasons. Firstly, the show has run for so long that it would be an insurmountable task to include every great moment. But also, they likely had difficulty securing the rights to segments from major artists. I was disappointed that Billy Joel's grouch version of "Just the Way You Are" was missing, just as one example, but I can understand what a challenge it would be to try and get permission, even for a technical parody which should constitute Fair Use.

By any measure, it was a joy to revisit many of my favorite moments from the Street. I laughed along with the "CHUNK-CHUNK!" noise used to great comedic effect in Law & Order: Missing Letters Unit, and all the other in-jokes for adults enjoying the program with their children.

I hope Sesame Street finds a new home soon. Thanks for all the sunny days.




(I'm like this all the time.)

I like a lot of dark stuff, a lot of crime drama. I'm currently catching up with a British series, Red Riding, from 2009, based on the novels by David Peace, on AmzPrime. Peace's books and the tv series are fictionalized accounts of police investigations into crimes against women and children from the mid-'70s to the '80s, set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper murders. The stories focus on corruption in the Yorkshire police department, seen through the lens of a news journalist, police detectives, and a lawyer who all play a part in the investigation into the abduction, murder and sexual assault of women and children in Yorkshire, possibly covered up by police officials in the pockets of organized crime. Dark and depressing, for sure, but that's usually most of my viewing material.


#161 Feb 15, 2025, 07:38 PM Last Edit: Feb 15, 2025, 09:00 PM by costa_oscura
Quote from: Trollheart on Nov 21, 2024, 08:28 PMWaiting to be watched:

Big Little Lies: Suburban drama comedy? I'll give it a go. Seven episodes now.

Excellent women-focused drama based on the book by Liane Moriarty, who also wrote 9 Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall, both of which have also been turned into tv series.  Big Little Lies is the best of the bunch, in my opinion, with a great cast - Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, Zoe Kravitz.  The women are all part of a wealthy suburban community in Monterey, CA, all with kids at the same school, all trying to maintain public appearances - attending fundraisers, galas, lunching together, etc... but all while hiding secrets and closet skeletons, some more damaging than others.  They have to learn to set aside their differences and come together to support each other through some dark times, although how long they can maintain their trauma bond is tenuous.  Meryl Streep joined the cast for season 2 as the meddling mother-in-law of Nicole Kidman's husband, is absolutely fantastic in the series.  They've recently started working on season 3 of the series, so I'm looking forward to that.

Quote from: Trollheart on Nov 21, 2024, 08:28 PMApples Never Fall: I think this is about the disappearance of a child?
Not about the disappearance of a child, but about the disappearance of a middle aged wife and mother of a well known tennis pro family.  Also based on the book by Liane Moriarty, who wrote Big Little Lies, this is my second favorite adaptation of her work.  It's soapier and less believable than Big Little Lies, but Annette Benning and Sam Neill are great as the tennis pro husband and wife team, Joy and Stan Delaney, who created a tennis training program, raised their 4 kids to be part of the business, either as tennis stars or on the management side... not all of whom succeeded in their parents' wishes.  The Delaneys are well known in the tennis pro community, but shortly after Joy and Stan retire and sell the business, Joy goes missing and it starts to seem like Stan is a suspect.  Their adult children have to work together to investigate, uncovering family secrets, closet skeletons, etc.

I finished watching Day of the Jackal a few weeks ago and enjoyed it more than I thought.  Eddie Redmayne was great in it.  Definitely worth a watch.  I'm looking forward to the second season.

The Vow is probably the best docu-series I've seen on the NXIVM cult and I've watched a few.  The interwebs can point you in the direction of more.  Most of them tend to focus on actor Catherine Oxenberg's daughter India who got involved in the cult while Catherine spent several years fighting to get her out and expose the cult for what it is.  The Vow goes into greater detail about all aspects of the cult, not just focusing on the Oxenbergs' involvement, looks closely at Keith Raniere, the cult leader, and how he affected many people in the cult.

If you like that kind of thing, you might want to check out some of the various docu-series on the Twin Flames cult (referred to as the "Twin Flames Universe") created by internet influencer nutjobs Jeff and Shaleia Divine.  It's not as scandalous as all the NXIVM sh*t, but definitely an interesting peek into the kooky couple and how they manipulated thousands of people into believing their b.s. and giving them money, as well as preaching/pushing extremely harmful rules for gender and sexual expression.  Both Netflix and AmzPrime have docu-series about the cult, worth checking out.


I just recently finished up MO which is a comedy drama series that follows the life of a Palestinian immigrant seeking asylum status.  I'm sad that it only got two seasons but the creator felt all the stories that needed to be told were told. The last episode takes place on October 6th of 2023.

I was this cool the whole time.